Throw mats

ABSTRACT

A protective mat in the shape of a segment connected to drive mechanism on a door. The drive mechanism operates so that when the door is open the mat occupies a lay-down position in front of the door and is available to be contacted by the foot-covering of a pedestrian and so that when the door is closed the mat occupies a retracted, out-of-reach position up on the door.

Yerkes Dec. 24, 1974 [54] THROW MATS 2,566,070 8/1951 Rhodes 49/314 [76] Inventor: Richard H. Yerkes, 3021 Unruh St., 5 523 36% Philadelphia pa. 19149 [22] Filed; O t, 2, 1973 Primary Examiner]. Karl Bell pp No: ,83 Attorney, Agent, or FirmFrederick J. Olsson [57] ABSTRACT [52] U.S. Cl 49/70, 15/216, 15/238, A protective mat in the shape of a segment connected 49/314 to drive mechanism on a door The drive mechanism [51] lint. Cl E06b 7/00 operates so that when the door is open the mat occu- [58] Field of Search 49/70, 60, 303, 309, 310, pies a lay-down position in front of the door and is 49/313, 314; 15/215, 216, 237, 238, 239 available to be contacted by the foot-covering of a pedestrian and so that when the door is closed the mat [56] References Cited occupies a retracted, out-of-reach position up on the UNITED STATES PATENTS door- I 770,330 9/1904 Steger 49/314 5 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures LAY DOWN POSITION PAIEN'IED IIEII24I9T4 sum 1 or a and LAY DOWN POSITION RETRACTED POSITION THROW MATS This invention relates to improvements in carpet protecting throw mats to be used by a person entering a home for wiping or scraping shoes or other foot covering.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a mat and means for mounting the mat on a door so that the mat, as the door is opened, will cover the floor in front of the door and thus be available for foot cleaning by pedestrains, but which will be retracted up into the door when the same is closed.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improvement of the kind mentioned which, when the door, is being opened or closed, will not generate any force tending to move the door, whereby the door can be placed in the fully open position or in a partiallyopen position.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improvement of the kind mentioned having a weather sealing strip which is automatically placed down in sealing position when the door is closed and which automatically retracts when the door is being opened so as to be moveable freely over the protective mat.

Various features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following specification, considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings it being understood that modifications may be made in the structural details shown and described, within the scope of the appended claims, and without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the retracted position of the mat when the door is closed;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view showing the door partially open and with the mat being placed in its laydown position;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the door in fully open position with the mat in its lay-down position;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a door is partially open position and particularly illustrating a cover or housing for the mat;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view partially in section illustrating mechanism for moving the mat as between the lay-down and retracted positions;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view taken along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged elevational view taken along the lines 77 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view taken along the lines 88 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged plan view taken along the lines 99 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is a fragmentary elevational view showing a door having the Weatherstripping of the invention;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged elevational view taken along the lines 1l11 of FIG. 10; and illustrating the weather stripping in closed position.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view illustrating the weatherstripping in the open position.

In FIG. 1 a conventional door is indicated by the dotted lines 1. The door is in the closed position. The door is hinged on the doorway frame (not shown) and adapted to be swung inwardly in the direction of the arrows 2 to the open position as shown in FIG. 3.

In FIG. 1 protective mat 3 is shown in its retracted position closely adjacent the door and oriented generally parallel to the plane of the door.

As the door starts to move away from the open position the mat is forced to lay down in front of the door as noted FIG. 2. In the fully open position of FIG. 3 the mat extends in the area from the door threshold to the face of the door. In the lay-down position the mat is available for contact by the shoes or other footcovering of a person entering the building whereby the shoes can be scraped clean or wiped dry.

When the door is moved from the open position of FIG. 3 back toward the closed position of FIG. 1 the mat is automatically forced to move upwardly until it occupies the retracted position of FIG. 1.

One of the particular features of the invention is that the mechanism for moving the mat as between the laydown and the retracted positions will not generate any forces on the door tending to move the same. When the door is positioned as shown in FIG. 2 or 3 it will remain in such position. The mechanisms for moving the mat generates forces only when the door is actually in motion.

With reference to FIG. 4, the door 1 is shown in full lines. The door is mounted in a conventional doorway frame, indicated at 4, and the door is hinged to the frame as by the hinges 5. The doorway includes a conventional threshold indicated by the dotted lines 6. The floor for the building structure is generally indicated at 9 and carpeting on floor indicated at 10.

Normally, the mat and mechanism for moving the mat as between the lay-down and the retracted position is mounted on the back of the door and concealed by a housing or cover such as the cover 11.

With reference to FIGS. 1, 5 and 7 it will be seen that the mat 2 is formed in the shape of a segment. The bottom edge 12 is adapted to be secured to the floor in a position adjacent the bottom of the door. This may be done preferably by detachable means such as Zipper mechanism 13, one strip of which is connected to the anchor block 14 and the other strip to the mat. The anchor block 14 is secured down on the floor 9. A detachable mounting such as a zipper is preferred in order to provide a ready means for detaching the mat for replacement purposes.

As noted in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6 the mat in the retracted position is held closely adjacent the door and extends generally parallel the plane of the door. The upper corner 15 of the rug is secured to a movable trolley as will be explained below.

An arcuately shaped track 16 is fastened to the back of the door. The upper end 20 of the track is adjacent the hinged edge of the door while the lower end 21 of the track is adjacent the bottom of the door. The track carries a movable trolley 22. The trolley (FIG. 6) comprises a frame 23 and a roller 24 mounted on the frame. As will be explained below; the roller 24 is adapted to be moved along the track 16. The frame 23 carries a holding screw 25 which is adapted to fasten the upper corner 15 of the mat firmly against the frame. Preferably the upper corner 15 of the mat has a hole for accepting the screw 25 and a spiked washer may be used to assist in the holding function.

The drive mechanism for moving the mat from the retracted position to the lay-down position will be explained following.

A roller is rotatably mounted adjacent the bottom of the door as by the bearings 31 and 32. The roller is adapted to contact the surface of the mat when the door is in the closed position (FIG. 7). When the door is moved from the closed position toward the open position (to the right as viewed in FIG. 7) the roller 30 will exert a force on the mat the effect of which is to pull the mat down from the retracted position. This pulling force is developed by virtue of the end 12 of the mat being fixed to the floor and the contact of the roll 30 with the mat as the door moves. The trolley 22 follows the motion of the mat by moving down along the track 16 and does not impose any holding or restraining force on the mat. Thus if the door is moved to a partially open or fully open position it will remain in such position as no force is developed either by the roll 30 or the trolley 22 to operate on the door to move the same. The force for moving the mat to the lay-down position is developed only when the door is actually in motion.

The drive mechanism for moving the mat from the lay-down position back up to the retracted position will next be described.

A gear segment 33 is fixedly mounted on the floor I l. The center of the gear is aligned with the pivot axis of the hinges 5. A drive pinion 34 meshes with the gear. The pinion is fixed to a shaft 35 rotatably supported by the pillow block 36. The top end of the shaft carries a second drive pinion 37.

With particular reference to FIG. 8, it will be apparent that as the door is swung as between the opened and closed positions the pinion 34 will run along the gear 33 and thereby be rotated. Rotation of pinion 34 will cause rotation of both the shaft 35 and the pinion 37.

A second drive shaft is rotatably supported on the door by the pillow blocks 41 and 42. The lower end of shaft 40 carries a third drive pinion 43 which meshes with the pinion 37 and is rotated thereby. The top end of the shaft 40 carries bevel gear 44 which rotates with the shaft. A second bevel gear 45 is rotatably mounted on the door and meshes with bevel gear 44 to be rotated thereby. A control arm 46 is fixed to the bevel gear 45 and is rotated thereby. The control arm comprises the tubular socket 47 pinned to the gear 45 and a rod 48 slidably mounted within the socket 47. The trolley 22 is fixed to the rod 48. A spring 50 is connected between the rod 48 and the socket 47 and the spring puts tension on the trolley so that the roller 24 is tight down against the track 16.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that as the door is moving from the open to the closed position the rotation of the pinion 34 will cause rotation of the control arm 46 and trolley 22 in a clockwise direction. The trolley will operate to pull the rug up into the retracted position. It will be observed that the force on the rug is developed only while the door is moving. Thus if the door is moved to a partially open position there is no force exerted by the trolley, hence there is no force exerted on the door to tend to move the same.

When the door is moving from the closed to the open position, rotation of pinion 34 will cause rotation of the control arm 46 and trolley 22 in a counter clockwise direction. At this time the roll 30 is operating to pull the mat down from the retracted position. The counter clockwise motion of the trolley permits the motion of the mat so that there is no force opposing the force of roller 30 and the mat can move freely into the lay-down position.

From the foregoing description it will be noted that the drive mechanisms convert rotary motion of the door into forces which correspondingly move the mat.

To avoid interference between the mat and the control arm I prefer to fasten a deflector 49 to the arm in a manner as shown in the FIGS. 5 and 9.

The sockets 47 and rod 48 provide a telescopic effect which allows the center of rotation of the control arm and the center of the arc of the track to be off-set. This provides for desirable wide width of the mat along the bottom of the door but with minimum height in the retracted position.

While I have described the above mechanism as being attached to the back surface of the door and concealed by a cover, it will be apparent that the mechanism may be located within the interior of the door between the front and back surfaces.

In many climates it is desirable or necessary to use Weatherstripping on the outside of the door. Conventional Weatherstripping would drag on the mat with opening and closing of the door and could make door motion impossible. In order to use Weatherstripping, the invention contemplates a type of stripping which, when the door is opened, will move to a retracted position so that it is spaced from the mat and offers no interference with door motion. A typical embodiment of the retractable Weatherstripping is shown in FIGS. 10, 11 and 12. In these Figures I have omitted showing of the mat and drive mechanisms for purposes of clarity.

On the outside surface of the door and along the bottom thereof is a strip 53 which includes the rigid support 54 mounting a rubber barrier 55. The hinge 56 connects the support 54 to the door. As indicated in FIGS. 10 and 11 the strip is in its closed position with the rubber strip 55 down tight against the floor or threshold.

The position of the strip in FIGS. 10 and 11 is determined by a cam 60 which is secured to the doorway frame 4. The cam has an inclined surface 61 which engages the support 54. When the door is moving from the open position toward the closed position (toward the right as viewed in FIG. 11) the support 54 engages the surface 61 which cams the strip down into the position shown. When the door is moved to the left the support 54 disengages from the surface 61 and this allows the spring 62 which is connected between the frame 54 and the door to pull the strip upwardly until the strip engages the abutment 63 (FIG. 12) which in this case is the housing covering the spring 62.

I claim:

1. In a building structure including a floor, a doorway frame, and a door hinged to the frame for swinging movement between closed and open positions, mechanism to be used by a pedestrian opening the door to wipe or scrape shoes or other foot-covering comprismg:

a mat formed in the shape of a segment, one edge of the mat being fixed to the floor adjacent the bottom of the door, the mat being adapted to occupy a lay-down position when door is open wherein the mat extends on the floor in front of the door and thereby available for contact by the foot-covering of a pedestrian and also adapted to occupy a retracted position when the door is closed whereby the mat is held closely adjacent the door and generally parallel the plane of the door and thereby unavailable for foot-covering contact;

first drive means on the door including a roller engagsecond drive means including gear means on the floor and gear means on the door meshing therewith operative as a function of door motion in a direction from open to closed position to exert a force on the mat to pull the same from the laydown to the retracted position, the second drive means being operative to develop said force only when the door is in motion in last said direction.

2. In a building structure including a floor, a doorway frame, and a door hinged to the frame for swinging between closed and open positions, mechanism to be used by a pedestrian opening the door to wipe or scrape shoes or other foot-covering comprising:

a mat formed in the shape of a segment, the mat being adapted to occupy a lay-down position when the door is open wherein the mat extends on the floor in front of the door and thereby available for contact by the foot-covering of a pedestrian and also adapted to occupy a retracted position when the door is closed whereby the mat is held closely adjacent the door and generally parallel the plane of the door and thereby unavailable for footcovering contact;

means securing one edge of the mat to the floor adjacent the bottom of the door;

an arcutely shaped track mounted on the door, the upper end of the track being adjacent the hinged edge of the door and the lower end of the track being adjacent the bottom of the door;

a trolley mounted for movement along the track;

means securing the corner of the mat opposite said one edge of said trolley;

a gear segment mounted on the floor;

a first pinion rotatably mounted on the door and meshing with the gear segment so that swinging motion of the door as between the open and closed positions causes the pinion to roll over the segment and thereby be rotated;

first drive means connected between said first pinion and said trolley including mechanism responsive to pinion rotation to move the trolley along the track, motion of the door from the closed to the open position moving the trolley from the upper end of the track to the lower end of the track and motion of the door from the open to the closed position moving the trolley from the lower end of the track to the upper end of the track, last said motion of the trolley pulling said mat from the lay-down position to the retracted position; and

second drive means including a drive roller connected to and extending across the bottom of the door and engaging the mat, motion of the door from the closed to the open position causing the roller to exert a force on the carpet and pull the same downwardly from the retracted position to the lay-down position, said trolley following the motion of the carpet without exerting a restraining force thereon.

3. A construction in accordance with claim 2 further including a housing on said door and at least partially concealing said mat.

4. A construction in accordance with claim 2 wherein said trolley includes a frame and a roller mounted on the frame engaging said track, and further wherein first said drive means includes:

a vertically extending shaft rotatably mounted on the door and connected to said pinion for rotation therewith;

a second drive pinion mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith;

a second shaft rotatably mounted on said door;

a third drive pinion fixed on said second shaft and in mesh with the first drive pinion for rotation thereby;

a first bevel gear fixed on said second shaft for rotation therewith;

a second bevel gear rotatably mounted on said door and meshing with first said bevel gear so as to be rotated thereby;

a tubular socket fixed on said second bevel gear for rotation therewith;

a control arm slidably mounted in said socket, one end of the arm mounting said trolley frame; and

a spring connected between said control arm and said socket and exerting a force to cause the roller to firmly engage in said tract.

5. A construction in accordance with claim 4 further including:

a deflector plate mounted on said tube for use in holding the carpet in a position away from the tube. 

1. In a building structure including a floor, a doorway frame, and a door hinged to the frame for swinging movement between closed and open positions, mechanism to be used by a pedestrian opening the door to wipe or scrape shoes or other foot-covering comprising: a mat formed in the shape of a segment, one edge of the mat being fixed to the floor adjacent the bottom of the door, the mat being adapted to occupy a lay-down position when door is open wherein the mat extends on the floor in front of the door and thereby available for contact by the foot-covering of a pedestrian and also adapted to occupy a retracted position when the door is closed whereby the mat is held closely adjacent the door and generally parallel the plane of the door and thereby unavailable for foot-covering contact; first drive means on the door including a roller engaging said mat operative as a function of door motion in a direction from the closed to the open position to exert a force on the mat and pull the same from the retracted position to the lay-down position, said drive means being operative to develop said force only when the door is in motion in said direction; and second drive means including gear means on the floor and gear means on the door meshing therewith operative as a function of door motion in a direction from open to closed position to exert a force on the mat to pull the same from the lay-down to the retracted position, the second drive means being operative to develop said force only when the door is in motion in last said direction.
 2. In a building structure including a floor, a doorway frame, and a door hinged to the frame for swinging between closed and open positions, mechanism to be used by a pedestrian opening the door to wipe or scrape shoes or other foot-covering comprising: a mat formed in the shape of a segment, the mat being adapted to occupy a lay-down position when the door is open wherein the mat extends on the floor in front of the door and thereby available for contact by the foot-covering of a pedestrian and also adapted to occupy a retracted position when the door is closed whereby the mat is held closely adjacent the door and generally parallel the plane of the door and thereby unavailable for foot-covering contact; means securing one edge of the mat to the floor adjacent the bottom of the door; an arcutely shaped track mounted on the door, the upper end of the track being adjacent the hinged edge of the door and the lower end of the track being adjacent the bottom of the door; a trolley mounted for movemenT along the track; means securing the corner of the mat opposite said one edge of said trolley; a gear segment mounted on the floor; a first pinion rotatably mounted on the door and meshing with the gear segment so that swinging motion of the door as between the open and closed positions causes the pinion to roll over the segment and thereby be rotated; first drive means connected between said first pinion and said trolley including mechanism responsive to pinion rotation to move the trolley along the track, motion of the door from the closed to the open position moving the trolley from the upper end of the track to the lower end of the track and motion of the door from the open to the closed position moving the trolley from the lower end of the track to the upper end of the track, last said motion of the trolley pulling said mat from the lay-down position to the retracted position; and second drive means including a drive roller connected to and extending across the bottom of the door and engaging the mat, motion of the door from the closed to the open position causing the roller to exert a force on the carpet and pull the same downwardly from the retracted position to the lay-down position, said trolley following the motion of the carpet without exerting a restraining force thereon.
 3. A construction in accordance with claim 2 further including a housing on said door and at least partially concealing said mat.
 4. A construction in accordance with claim 2 wherein said trolley includes a frame and a roller mounted on the frame engaging said track, and further wherein first said drive means includes: a vertically extending shaft rotatably mounted on the door and connected to said pinion for rotation therewith; a second drive pinion mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith; a second shaft rotatably mounted on said door; a third drive pinion fixed on said second shaft and in mesh with the first drive pinion for rotation thereby; a first bevel gear fixed on said second shaft for rotation therewith; a second bevel gear rotatably mounted on said door and meshing with first said bevel gear so as to be rotated thereby; a tubular socket fixed on said second bevel gear for rotation therewith; a control arm slidably mounted in said socket, one end of the arm mounting said trolley frame; and a spring connected between said control arm and said socket and exerting a force to cause the roller to firmly engage in said tract.
 5. A construction in accordance with claim 4 further including: a deflector plate mounted on said tube for use in holding the carpet in a position away from the tube. 